🐠 TOTM VOTE NOW: December 2025 Tank of the Month Contest (16 US gallons and smaller)

[connorlindeman]

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Please Vote Now
We have 3 great tanks entered in Fishforums' December 2025 Tank of the Month contest featuring tanks sized at 16 US gallons and smaller! View both the tanks and descriptions below and then go to poll at the top of this thread, click on your choice for TOTM, and then click the "Cast" button.

Please DO NOT post any comments about any specific entry in this thread...such posts will promptly be deleted. You are not allowed to update your entry picture or video once voting has started.

Please Note:
Any attempt to influence competition results, other than by casting your allocated vote, is not permitted and may result in your entry being removed and / or further action being taken. You are not allowed to have friends or family join TFF for the main purpose of voting for you. This is a public poll so source of votes can be viewed.

Winner will be awarded a neat "Tank of the Month Winner" banner in their profile area and will be featured in a "TOTM Winner" thread for all to see and to comment on. Winner will also be added to our TOTM WALL OF FAME

You are allowed to change your vote if you wish.
This poll will end on December 12 at 6:30 A.M (ET).

 

[f_luxus]

15 Gallons with Heterandria formosa and some Neocaridina shrimps. Light only, no filter or CO2. Medium hard water, pH round about 7.
I use a bit N-K fertiliser and root caps.
I only add iron if the floating plants show a deficiency.

 

[Donya]

The Snail Bowl
2ish gallons glass bowl with a 3D printed lid, a piece of driftwood, java moss, duckweed, some Neocardinia, and some Planorbella. It has an airline in and a tiny heater. The light is mainly for aesthetic purposes; the plant growth is mostly powered by a bit of sun it gets each morning. It's been running for a bit over a year now. I run it on the cooler side at 70-71F. I feed the tank a bit weekly but otherwise maintenance is very sparse. I top of with RODI to compensate for evaporation (which is minimal) and then every few months prune back moss and do a large, slow WC. There is a mostly hidden piece of aragonite in the back that stabilizes pH and KH. Fun tech side note: the LED light has no switch, just a USB cable. Because there is no way to control the light directly through the lid and the plug is difficult to reach, I got a remote-controlled USB power toggle to plug the light into and stuck the remote button on top of the lid.

 

[Abaddon]

*I think I've already skipped 2 TOTM contests, but if not please delete*

Anyway - this is my rimless 11gal, set up in June this year. It used to look much neater, but the plants have defeated me, lol (plus side - natural nitrogen sinks!). The main culprits behind this absolute mess are frogbit, salvinia and water sprite. Believe it or not, this picture was taken after substantial refurbishment & removal of plants. Because the roots are so tangled, I can't really pull anything up without upsetting the whole thing and stirring up the substrate, so I just manually push down the water sprite every now and then to keep it as close to the bottom as possible (otherwise it would grow above the surface and leave nothing but brown roots in the tank, which doesn't look great.) There's also some Java fern, anubias and pelia moss. The current fauna consists of snails, cherry shrimp and a small group of barred topminnows (Quintana atrizona).
The tank is covered, lit by 2 LED lamps (between 8-10h per day), with one internal power filter (dense sponge, 450l/h) and heater set to 24C (75F), and there are 2 big pieces of driftwood hiding in the background. The substrate is crushed lava rock. I usually aim for a 25% WC every week and feed twice a day. I also use a type of all-in-one fertilizer formula that doesn't contain nitrogen or phosphorus (anti-algae), since I figured the tank is going to produce enough of it naturally. So far it seems to be working out OK.

Doing maintenance on this thing feels like falling into the Devil's Snare trap from Philosopher's Stone, iykyk I hope I can get it under a bit more control so it feels more like a deliberate scape. I still enjoy the wild look though

 

[connorlindeman]

Please scroll up as you review the four awesome entries, and then in the poll at the top of this thread, click on your choice for Tank of the Month. Be sure to click the CAST button to register your vote. Good luck to all our entrants.